College Fest kicks off in Philly

Philadelphia will be turning into one big college campus this weekend with a series of events designed to expose students to the city.

The Philadelphia College Festival will kick off Saturday with "College Day on the Parkway," when institutions along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway will open their doors to college students for free.

The eight-day festival is designed to introduce and orient students to the city, but also to encourage students to stay after they graduate -- something Philadelphia has struggled with over the last few years.

Mayor John Street formally announced the festival yesterday at a City Hall ceremony, adding wishes that the event "would quickly become a tradition."

"We want to attract and keep young people [in the city and region]," Street said. He added that the goal is to "make Philadelphia a great place to live and work."

This is the fourth year of the event and the largest college-oriented city event to date. The first festival, in 1999, was held at the Mann Music Center and attracted 15,000 students.

This year's festival, which includes over 50 events around the city, is expected to attract many more.

Festival highlights will include a Center City scavenger hunt on Wednesday and a Phillies game on Tuesday. The cultural "College Day on the Parkway," will also feature free performances by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and The Roots.

Street noted that many visitors come to the city and say that they "just didn't know" what the city has to offer.

"Well, now they're gonna know," he said.

The event is part of the city's Campus Philly program, which also encourages students to study and live in Philadelphia. The Campus Philly program was officially launched within the past year, but has been part of an ongoing revitalization effort.

In addition to the cultural aspects of the city, the mayor stressed decreasing crime rates in the city.

Crime "is a real concern that people have," Street said. "We want students to be safe, and parents to be assured."

The mayor pointed to some of his own initiatives like the Operation Safe Streets program and the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative to mark progress in the city.

"Violence and crime have gone down dramatically," Street added.

In addition to Penn's own involvement as one of the 50 colleges in the city, the University was included as a "platinum sponsor" of the event.

Associate Vice President Jack Shannon said that Penn had been involved since the inception of the program.

"The University has been an active supporter of the festival for a number of years," Shannon said. "We've been trying to promote and market the city to compete and surmount cities like Boston."

"We want to alert university students to all the wonderful things the city has to offer," he added.

Shannon noted that the city and the University are looking to expand the festival into several weeks of events.

Local community organizations will be involved in the festival as well.

According to Allison Kelsey, spokeswoman for the University City District -- a community group for the area encompassing Penn and a fellow supporter of the festival -- the UCD has also worked with the College Festival since its inception.

"Our focus [in the festival] is really on all the good stuff about living in University City," Kelsey said. "UC is a great place to live, and we want to share that."

Philadelphia "has long been in the shadows of cities like New York and Washington, D.C.," she added. "We might not be New York or D.C., but we have a lot to offer, and it's about time that [the city] shows that."

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